A trading journal is the book a trader writes about their own trading. A trading journal records decisions made in the market so you can see any errors in discipline, risk management, or process. If you can measure it, you can change it. If you are mindful of your behavior you can learn from your own errors and stop making the same mistakes over and over.
The dynamics of a trading journal:
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- Date trade opened.
- Date trade closed.
- Currency pair, stock, or futures contract.
- Position size.
- Direction of trade bet.
- Entry price.
- Stop loss.
- Profit target.
- Exit price.
- Risk/reward ratio.
- Win or loss.
- Loss size and percentage.
- Profit size and percentage.
- Signal.
- Comments on emotions and any errors.
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- A trading journal includes the classification of a buy or sell order, trade size, executed price, trading strategies, commissions and notes. Auto-generated trading metrics included in the trading journal software help you to find your trading edge by analyzing the trading performance.
- Trading Journal Spreadsheet New Trader U. Excel Details: Trading Journal Spreadsheet. Enter your email address and we'll send you a free PDF of this post. A trading journal is the book a trader writes about their own trading. A trading journal records decisions made in the market so you can see any errors in discipline, risk management, or process.
- In a nutshell, a trading journal spreadsheet is a file created from software like Microsoft Excel. Basically, this tool is designed to help traders to go back to their past trades or transactions for review. Successful traders can further analyze from the data what went right and what went wrong. Having this kind of analysis will strengthen the.
Record, learn, adjust, and grow as a trader.
Here is an example of a free trading journal template in Microsoft Excel:Trade Journal.zipSource
2021 UPDATE: Read my guide to the Best Trading Journals tips on how to successfully maintain your journal.
Trading journal spreadsheet download
Trading Journal Spreadsheets
I've had quite a few requests for a copy of the spreadsheet I use for my trading journal. I uploaded it to the server so feel free to download a copy if you're interested. It's not the most elegant spreadsheet but it does what I need.
Here's some details about the columns included:
Trading Journal Spreadsheet Free
- Expectancy: An average of column K (R Multiple). This formula must be modified each day to include the latest rows.
- Total P&L: Sum of column J (P&L)
- Trade #: Just used for some calculations later...
- L/S: Long or short
- QTY: Number of shares
- Bought: Purchase price
- Sold: Selling price
- Initial risk: Dollars at risk based on the initial stop
- Comm: Commission for both sides of the trade. I have it set to calculate based on the number of shares entered in column E.
- P&L: The actual P&L, including commission
- R Multiple: P&L divided by the initial risk
- % Wins: This is calculated by dividing column R (sum W/L) by column A (trade #)
- Comments: I use this to list errors made on the trade or anything else worth noting.
- $ at Work: This gives me an idea of how much money was in the position. It's simply QTY (column E) divided by Bought (purchase price). Note that this is not accurate for shorts but it's close enough for government work. :-)
- % P&L: The percentage return for the trade. P&L divided by $ at Work. Again, not exact for shorts.
- Initial % risk: Just tells me how far my stop was from my entry in percentage terms.
- W/L: Tells whether the trade was a winner (1) or a loser (0). This is used by the next column, Sum W/L.
- Sum W/L: A running total of the W/L column. This is used in the % Wins column.
Have ideas for how I can improve the spreadsheet? Email me!
2021 UPDATE: Read my guide to the Best Trading Journals tips on how to successfully maintain your journal.
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About the Author
Blain Reinkensmeyer As Head of Research, Blain Reinkensmeyer has 18 years of trading experience with over 1,000 trades placed during that time. Referenced as a leading expert on the US online brokerage industry, Blain has been quoted in The New York Times, Forbes, and the Chicago Tribune, among others.